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21 May 2008
Women Entrepreneurs Discuss Challenges and Successes in Business
Ask America webchat transcript, May 19
Two businesswomen discussed their challenges and successes in a May 19 Ask America webchat. Robin Chase is the co-founder and former CEO of Zipcar, a car-sharing service, and currently the CEO of GoLoco.org, an online social networking service that helps people create transportation networks. Ilham Zhiri, the founder of a successful printing company in Morocco, Impremerie el Maarif Al Jadida, participated in a U.S. State Department business development program called Middle East Entrepreneurship Training (MEET).
Following is the transcript:
(begin transcript)
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE
Bureau of International Information Programs
Ask America Webchat Transcript
Women Entrepreneurs: Challenges and Success in Business
Guest: Robin Chase & Ilham Zhiri
Date: May 19, 2008
Time: 2:30 p.m. EDT (1830 GMT)
Webchat Moderator: Welcome to our webchat! Today's discussion will begin at 14:30 EDT/18:30 GMT. You may begin submitting your questions now.
Because of our audio problems, we will send your questions to our two guests via this chat pod. But first, I would like to ask Ms. Chase and Ms. Zhiri to write a few brief words about themselves and their work.
Robin Chase: I founded Zipcar in 2000, was its CEO for 3 years and then on the board for an additional 2 years. Zipcar parks cars throughout dense metropolitan areas for members to reserve by the hour and by the day using either telephone or internet. People use Zipcar like they use their own cars. My current company is GoLoco, an online ride-sharing company. People post their trips (as passengers or drivers). They can show their trips to their friends, their co-workers, their neighbors, or anyone. We have included social networks so that you know something about the person you might share a ride with. We also help them share car travel costs online using [online payment system] Paypal.
Ilham Zhiri: Thank you for inviting me on this webchat. I am a business woman and entrepreneur, running a family business in printing and publishing. I am a Board Member of AFEM – Association of Women Entrepreneurs in Morocco. I am also a founding member of the Casa Pionnier incubator project – a project to support start up women’s businesses in services and promotes young women’s entrepreneurship. I have participated in many MEPI - Middle East Partnership Initiative programs – sponsored by the U.S. State Department in the Middle East as well as in the U.S. I participated lately in the program of the Women Business Leaders Summit in the USA.
Comment [RABENJINJA Bodo Printing company manager, Madagascar]: In some part of Madagascar, especially in the provinces, it is part of the cultural background of people that man is superior to woman, thus very few women rise up to higher position or become entrepreneurs to change that culture, we all know that when women take responsibilities that will help fight poverty and better any society’s standard of living.
A [Robin Chase]: Women are known in all cultures as organizers of families. They frequently have to juggle young children, older parents, shopping, households, manage the family business. Our skills at multi-tasking and organization make us great entrepreneurs.
A [Ilham Zhiri]: Yes , absolutely in my culture as well, but now it is changing , we have now 7 women ministers in Morocco and 33 women Members of Parliament a well.
Q [Lucile RANDRIA President Femmes Entrepreneurs de Madagascar FEM in Fianarantsoa, Madagascar]: Would the chatters share their experience in the time management for:
1. The accomplishment of a woman functions to assume every day, every week every month and throughout, the year around, according to United Nations Population Fund (FNUAP, in French) demography Expert.
2. Namely, caring for the networking and their own business enterprise.
A [Robin Chase]: Having enough time is always a problem! I believe anyone can become efficient and women tend to this skill naturally. I personally found that when I had young children and was working part-time, I was much more efficient than my fellow co-workers. I had no time for chatting, no time for a cup of coffee, or talking about what happened over the weekend. For me, when I am at work, I am very focused on work, when at home, focused on home.
And we do need to ask for and get help -- everyone. No one does all the work themselves. We need to understand what work only we alone can do, and ask help from others in the other jobs when/where appropriate.
A [Ilham Zhiri]: Yes concerning the 1st question, time management is the whole issue, I am very focused person and do my best to manage free time and working time. In my opinion, delegation and team work are the key issues
Webchat Moderator: If you are just joining us, welcome! We are conducting this chat through the text-chat pod.
Q [RAZANAMIALISOA Vololonary Chief of Service Ministry of Public Works, Madagascar]: What are the keys of success in business for Women?
A [Robin Chase]: I would like to think that most of the keys of success for women are the same as those for men. Listening to your customers; always seeking to improve your business; treating your employees and customers well and with respect; watching money very closely; being persistent and focused.
A [Ilham Zhiri]: There is no magical answer, it is the same as men, the keys to success are based on hard work, hard work , hard work , integrity, honesty, and using emotional intelligence to solve issues and go beyond hurdles.
Q [RAZANAMIALISOA Vololonary Chief of Service Ministry of Public Works, Madagascar]: In entrepreneurship, do you think there is equality between men and women?
A [Ilham Zhiri]: Not quite in my country Morocco, it is beginning to change but still to come. We AFEM - Association of Women Entrepreneurs - are pleading for a gender approach implementation government plan. Up to now, we have 3 ministers have signed on, still more to come. However, when applying for jobs, there is no segregation, the job will be qualified only by skills and competencies.
A [Robin Chase]: In my country, I would have to say that in the business world there is still not parity between the sexes. Particularly in entrepreneurship. Only 3% of the money invested by venture capitalists in the U.S. country go to women start ups.
Q [Chat Participant]: What advices you have both for young woman entrepreneur?
A [Ilham Zhiri]: Believe in yourself, in your dream, in your project, in your business. Hard working, get coach, having mentors has helped as well. [To this day] when I have a problem I ask around, through my network, and seek the best advice and solution for this problem.
A [Robin Chase]: Be persistent. Keep trying. Talk and connect to everyone you know. I tell entrepreneurs that everyone you talk to is really your free unpaid consultant. What did they understand and not understand about your idea or project? If they didn't understand, tell yourself it is your fault for not explaining it well. If they asked questions you don't know the answers to, find out the answers!
Do have a plan for how your idea will work well when it is small, pay attention to money! Really understand the costs of your business.
Q [Zo a student]: According to [Fredrick Winslow] Taylors’ division of work, one could go up to the hierarchy level in the work place, as for women it is not easy to occupy the top position of management. How do you find that?
A [Robin Chase]: Being the CEO of a company is both wonderful and hard. I compare it to conducting an orchestra. You get to see your ideas come to like through the efforts of a group of skilled and talented people. It is also very hard and lonely, with some very difficult decisions to be made at times.
On balance, the good outweighs the bad.
A [Ilham Zhiri]: Yes, it is not easy to occupy top positions, we - women struggle everyday. Recently we had in Morocco, a reform of the Family law, that is in favor of women [providing] equal rights to divorce and etc. so women now are having more rights to occupy better and higher positions, As I said before, today we have 7 women ministers, and 2 out of 33 female Members of Parliament in my countries are both CEOs [of firms] and past and actual president of our association AFEM.
Webchat Moderator: AFEM is the Association of Women Entrepreneurs in Morroco
Q [Webchat Moderator]: Was there a point in your life that someone or some event made a difference that gave you the inspiration to become a business person? If so, who was that person or what was that event?
A [Robin Chase]: Many things. The first time I sat down with a real businessman (an Egyptian), I was impressed by his care for his employees, and that he was trying to make the world a better place by providing employment and income, in addition to his service. I had never thought that businessmen cared about that. My mother also inspired me. She started up many small businesses doing things she loved, and she too created employment for people and income for herself. She was an artist.
A [Ilham Zhiri]: I can’t not think of better examples than my father. He is a great entrepreneur for the last 44 years. He is the one who is inspiring me and is my IDOL. Believe it or not, He is the one that encourages and pushed me to do my studies abroad when I was only 17 and half years old. He is very humble, quite successful and great inspiration for me up to this day.
Q [Raharinjanahary Berthine English teacher Madagascar]: How about education, do we need to be highly educated in order to become a good manager?
A [Robin Chase]: Not necessarily. You need to be good with people to be a good manager of people. I am often very impressed with the knowledge and understanding people have of processes and operations close to them. I look for help and insight to a problem from those closest to it -- and those people may not have a formal education. But they certainly have a good education in what the problem/issue/service at hand is.
That said, education is very important and opens up many more opportunities for people, so it is critical. For my own children, my desire is that they know how to learn quickly because they will be having many different careers and jobs throughout their lives.
A [Ilham Zhiri]: Well, I think we need to have a basic education, good skills, hands-on experience, a very common sense to manage your employees. A university degree would be appreciated.
Q [RAZANAMIALISOA Vololonary Chief of Service Ministry of Public Works, Madagascar]: Can you explain your experiences in transportation management in your country? (In Madagascar there is a little percent of women transportation manager);
A [Robin Chase]: In [the U.S.] there are few women in transportation as well. I guess my interest in Zipcar stemmed from my being a mother with three children and not having access to a car, since my husband used it to go to work every day. I was left at home with the children and no car ever. In fact, I did not want a car very much, but I did want one sometimes, and I didn't want to have to maintain it or pay for the whole car myself. This first-hand experience, together with my business background and understanding that internet access and wireless data transmission could make the whole idea of renting a car for an hour possible.
A [Ilham Zhiri]: Well in my country, there is quite few taxi drivers women; but we do have few women entrepreneurs in transportation, as matter of fact, one of our members of AFEM holds a trucking company.
Comment [Faharoudine Soavelo Research Consultancy, Madagascar]: I feel that man in general don’t accept the idea that a woman is the head of a company. Thus, they want to pay women less or they just don’t want to pay because I am woman. In spite of that, clients have faith in woman rather than in man as far as money are concerned.
A [Ilham Zhiri]: Yes, that is true, worldwide, women are paid less than men for the same job. Yet, we are struggling and pleading through institutions such as ANME - Agency for Small and Medium Entreprises - for that, along with Ministry of Labor.
A [Robin Chase]: Regarding the skill and value of women versus men: I believe the proof is in what we produce. If I am good at my job (and I have the confidence to ask for it), my employee will be more than happy to pay me what I am worth, since I'm doing a good job. The same should be true at the executive level. But I do have to admit, that even here in the US, some men think that women executives don't have the skill -- even though the reality is right in front of their eyes! So I ask everyone, men and women, to please look at the facts and not their prejudices when making decisions about a woman's ability to do a job, run a company, or have a good idea.
Comment [Lucile RANDRIA President Femmes Entrepreneurs de Madagascar FEM in Fianarantsoa, Madagascar]: As Ecotourism and ethno tourism are promoted widely today, it would be interesting to hear or read both Entrepreneur ladies advice, recommendations about starting a women entrepreneurs networking organization, starting of a national level; and expanding internationally later on.
A [Robin Chase]: This is a good idea, but I know from experience that networks are hard to start. So, two pieces of advice -- look to see if there is something like this already. I feel like there are some women in business networks out there, although I don't remember their names off the top of my head. But you should be able to start and enjoy the benefits of a local network. Start small and expand it out. I used to belong to a CEO startup breakfast group -- 8 of us met at 7:30am at a cafe once a month. This was a very valuable way to share ideas, networks, and problems -- there are so few people you can share your problems with. If this ideas proves successful, expand it outward to others nearby.
I do think there are other groups out there trying this idea -- I met a Turkish women's group a few years ago. I just found one called witi.com women in technology, an international organization.
A [Ilham Zhiri]: Good idea, AFEM is already member of FCEM – International Organization of all Women Business Associations. As matter of fact, in 2004, Morocco, Marrakesh in Particular, through our association and the government, we hosted the Women’s Global summit, it was success. In 2005, we hosted the election of the Worldwide President election in Fez – Morocco.
So I do believe in Networking and International [networks] one since today we are in global world. One of the best examples that I can think of is though our incubator project to assist and help start up women in the services sector, we had international support from Spain, and from UNIFEM, UNDP and well as from [The U.S. State Department Middle East Partnership Initiative MEPI] - an American program.
Webchat Moderator: We wish to thank Ms. Zhiri and Ms. Chase for joining us today!
Robin Chase: It was my pleasure! Success to us all.
Ilham Zhiri: Thank you Robin, I would love to keep in touch.
Webchat Moderator: We wish to thank Ilham Zhiri and Robin Chase for joining us today. A transcript of today's webchat will be published to our Ask America homepage within one business day.
(Guest speakers are chosen for their expertise and do not necessarily reflect the views of the U.S. Department of State.)
(end transcript)
